Sailor Moon : Sirius Chronicles
by Nerina P. Xodes
Summary: Sailor Sirius and the Sirius senshi are awakened on Earth when an evil force starts to spread darkness around the world through the power of words.
1. Chapter 1

_Barcelona. June 23rd_

"It's finally over!," yelled a girl, jumping down the last three steps of the stairs that lead her and her friends out of the Faculty of Economics of Barcelona. "We've just ended our Selectivity exams and we're going to have three whole months of non-stop partying!"

Her name was Anna, and she wasn't a very tall girl. She had straight, shoulder-length, black hair and brown eyes. With one hand, she held a bunch of papers: class notes and summaries of the different subjects that they had been studying for the past three weeks. They had just done the Selectivity exams, the exams to enter the University.

"That is, of course, if you pass the Selectivity and don't have to take the September test," replied a boy who walked a few meters behind her. He wasn't very tall for his age, but he couldn't be considered to be short either. He had dark hair as well and his eyes were light brown.

"Shut up, Raül! Of course I'll pass. And in October I'll enter the Faculty of Journalism… and maybe find a handsome, caring man."

"October? Didn't you say you'd look for one at tomorrow's party? It's Saint John's Eve, remember?" said another of her friends, a girl with wavy, long, brown hair and beautiful, deep blue eyes.

"You're so right, Mariona! We should find you a good man, too. Wouldn't it be a wonderful birthday present?" Anna replied, taking her friend's arm.

"No man would be interested in Marimandona, she's way too bossy." The two girls turned around and gave a killer look to Pau, Raül's best friend. He was quite tall, over the average height. He had messy, light brown hair and green eyes, which, Mariona thought, were the only attractive thing that he had.

"I think that Anna said a _man_, not a boy like you, my dear Pau Bosch," she answered, with an ironic tone in her voice. "That means that your opinion is not needed, thank you." Before Pau could speak again, she added, with a sarcastic smile: "Oh, and by the way, since I'm such a bossy person, I order you to keep your mouth shut."

"I'm so glad I won't be hearing your orders everyday anymore…" Pau said, comically.

That had been their last year together in high school. On October they'd start going to different faculties: Mariona wanted to become a biologist; Anna, a journalist; Pau, a surgeon; and Raül wanted to run his own business after studying Economics. Their lives would change for sure, but little did they know how much… especially Mariona.

The following night there was a party at the beach to celebrate Saint John's Eve. It was a very popular holiday, with fireworks and bonfires: it is called the magical night. The four friends had planned to have dinner late so Mariona could blow her 18th birthday candles at midnight and, afterwards, go somewhere to dance and see the sunrise on the beach.

"Ask for a wish before blowing," Anna reminded her best friend when Mariona had the small chocolate cake with eighteen lit candles in front of her.

"Of course I will, Anna…" she replied, closed her eyes and blew. Anna, Pau and Raül applauded and some people that sat on tables nearby joined.

"What have you wished?" Anna asked.

"Anna, she can't say or it won't come true!" Raül reminded her, like she was a little child.

"Knowing her, she must have wished for a handsome, tall, dark-haired guy to become her blue prince tonight," said Pau, trying to laugh at her but, at the same time, with a very slight tone of sadness in his voice.

"You could be that blue prince if you wished, Pau," replied Mariona, ironically. "It's a shame that I'm too bossy for you."

Pau hugged her and kissed her cheek. "I'll be here to make sure that no evil witch tries to turn your prince into a frog." And he hugged her again. "You're an adult already, Mariona! Congratulations, you made it! But remember you can now go to prison."

"Oh, Pau, you just spoiled the sweet moment!" the other three said at the same time.

They left the restaurant and headed to the city's port. The beach wasn't far from there and they could get there walking for about five minutes. There was an open-air disco near the beach and they got inside. They had been dancing for a while when Mariona said that she wanted to buy a drink, and she walked to the bar. While she waited for her drink to be served, a tall, dark-haired boy with sapphire blue eyes came to her. He seemed to be a foreigner, but she couldn't tell where he came from. He didn't look like the typical North European tourists that invaded the Rambla in summer, nor did he look like an immigrant from South America or Morocco; he was actually unclassifiable, and, although he spoke perfect Catalan, he wasn't from there either. He was handsome, but Mariona hoped that he would just ignore her.

"Hi, how are you?" he started talking to her, as he had heard Mariona's thoughts.

"Fine, thanks," she said, and took her glass as if she wanted to leave.

"I'm Razek," he kept on talking. "I'm 19 and I study at the Faculty of Biology."

"What a coincidence, I'll start studying there on October." Mariona replied, feeling interested in the topic.

"Oh, really? What's your name, so I can come and talk to you when I see you around the place. You'll like it there, I'm sure."

They chatted for a while but Mariona tried to avoid what was obvious that Razek wanted: to flirt with her. He had invited her to another drink and danced with her all night long. "At least," she thought, "he hasn't kissed me, although he has tried many times." He had insisted on having her telephone numbers, though, and in the end she wrote it for him on a paper napkin.

"Who was that guy that hasn't stopped following you all night?" Raül asked when they were heading to the beach to sit by a bonfire and see the sunrise.

"He was so hot! Did you get his telephone number or his e-mail address?" Anna interrogated her friend about Razek.

"Yeah, in the end he gave it to me." Mariona explained the efforts that the boy had made to try to kiss her.

"Next step is the wedding. Congratulations, Mariona, you got your wish," said Pau.

"Come on, Pau, I wasn't even interested in him. Poor thing, I didn't know how to get rid of him," said Mariona, and Pau was about to say something else when Raül interrupted his friend.

"Don't listen to him, Mariona, he's already drunk… You're hopeless, boy, we can't take you anywhere!" he joked. Pau groaned and was quiet for the rest of the night.

At around seven o'clock in the morning, Mariona got off the Metro and walked down a couple of streets. They had seen the sunrise an hour ago and, since they were so tired, they had all gone back home. She opened the door to her bedroom and threw herself on her bed without even changing her clothes. She fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

_Mariona's dream_

_The sky was getting dark and, although it was still evening blue, many stars shone brightly with their silver light. On one side, there was a long flat area with its growing crops like a soft carpet, shaken by the soft breeze. Only the mountains with round summons that rose to the sky, majestically, broke the plain landscape. On the other side, the sea extended to the horizon, mirroring the two moons that illuminated the twilight. There were no clouds in the sky and everything slept in peace. All of a sudden, the ground started to tremble and the mountains broke into small pieces that fell like meteorites to the sea. Storm clouds were forming all over the place and a lightning lit fire on the flower buds and crops. The moons darkened and disappeared, there was chaos on the land. A dark silhouette stood from the nothing and grew to the sky, opened its arms and started shooting fire balls to seven towers with strange symbols. The world drowned in darkness..._


	2. Chapter 2

_Barcelona. June 29th_

"When are you leaving?"

Mariona and Anna were sitting on a terrace, having a drink. The wavy-haired girl was going to do an English summer course in Ireland for two weeks, and she had gone shopping with her best friend Anna before leaving.

"I'm leaving on Monday at nine in the morning," Mariona replied.

"I envy you… can I come too? Or will you bring me an Irish boyfriend?"

Mariona laughed. "You're obsessed with that, Anna!" She promised to send a postcard and take lots of pictures.

"By the way," started Anna. "What about your boy?"

"My boy?"

"Yeah, the one from Saint John's Eve."

"Razek? He called me a couple of days ago. He insisted very much and in the end I caved. We're going to Gràcia for dinner this evening."

"My little Ona, you can't start having a boyfriend right before going abroad…" Anna shook her head as if to say that her friend hadn't learned anything from her on that topic.

"I don't want a boyfriend from abroad, or Razek, or no one" Mariona said, blushing.

"Don't be such a nun!"

"Don't talk so Pau-like!" Mariona imited Anna.

"What about him? He'll be _sooo_ jealous of the Razek guy…" said Anna,

"Why would he?" Mariona asked. She sounded a bit annoyed. "Don't insist that he likes me, because that is practically impossible."

Anna was about to argue back, but Mariona stopped her and insisted on going to the bookshop to get a guidebook.

Some hours later, she took the Metro and got off at a stop in Gràcia, one of Barcelona's uptown neighborhoods. Most cool, bohemian restaurants and shops were there.

Razek was waiting for her on the street. As Anna had predicted, he had brought a rose with him, but it surprised Mariona that he had chosen a blue one, instead of the typical red one. She told him.

"Do you like it? I found this one more exotic, out of common. And the color blue suits you very much," he said. Mariona was a bit shocked and all she could say was "thank you."

They ate in a Greek restaurant decorated with little statues, replicas of the classical gods and goddesses. Razek seemed to know each and every myth related to them.

"…and that's Morpheus, the god of sleep. The ancient Greeks thought that the gods could communicate with them through dreams and send premonitions or warnings of their future," he explained.

"Now that you mention it… maybe you can tell me what my dream means. I've been having the same dream since my birthday," she said, and started to explain her dream, with the peaceful landscape, the two moons, the sudden fire, the destruction of the seven towers… the complete darkness.

"They say that fire means change," said Razek. "Something is going to happen soon, and it's going to change your life completely. The seven towers might mean seven people who'll be there during that change period."

"Are you sure that Biology is your dream career? You should be doing something related to paranormal things," Mariona said, realizing that the comment might offend Razek. He didn't seem so, though.

"It's up to you whether you believe it or not," he said, and ate some moussaka. When he had swallowed, he added: "But if seven people are really going to change your destiny, I'd love to be one of them."

"Is that a love declaration?" asked Mariona, realizing that she was starting to like the boy.

"You can consider it as one," he answered as he stood up to pay the bill, and kissed her cheek.

They left the restaurant and walked some streets up to the Metro station. Razek insisted on going with her to make sure that she was OK, even though he lived in the opposite direction.

"Thanks for the dinner," Mariona said when they reached her place. "I'd never been to a Greek restaurant before."

"Did you like it?" he asked, and she nodded. "Let's eat kebab next time! I know a great place downtown."

"That'd be nice", replied the wavy-haired girl, to Razek's surprise.

There were a few seconds of silence during which they simply looked at each other in the eyes, coming closer slowly, with a movement so slight that no one would have noticed that their lips seemed a pair of magnets.

That kiss, so warm and sweet, gave Mariona a funny feeling inside that she had never felt before, like butterflies in her stomach. That first kiss had tasted like the Greek gods' nectar.

_Tokyo. June 30th_

"Happy birthday, Usagi and Chibiusa!", said the inner and outer senshi at the same time. They were celebrating Usagi and Chibiusa's birthdays. They were turning 22 and 5, respectively; almost 6 years ago Usagi and Mamoru had got married after the legendary fight with Chaos. Everything seemed in perfect peace, for all along those years there had been no more fights and their senshi powers hadn't been used.

However, Setsuna had been registering strange activities in outer space, as if something evil had been awakened from its rest, a rest that should have never been broken.

"It's been happening since that eclipse on April", she commented to her mates after the birthday party.

"Do you mean that night when the moon turned red?" Makoto asked. Setsuna nodded.

"Do you think it could be enemies?" asked Ami with a concerned expression, remembering how the Dead Moon Circus also used an eclipse to come to Earth.

"How can that be possible?" exclaimed Minako. "I thought… I thought the fighting would be over after defeating Galaxia!"

"We must be alert," warned Haruka. "We shouldn't forget what the Cauldron's Guardian told us that day."

"Everything can be reborn here," remembered Rei.

"My mirror flashes images of the starry sky, especially of the constellation Canis Major," said Michiru. "I think there is a system of planets that orbits around one of its stars, Sirius."

"Sirius?" asked Usagi. "A system of planets?"

"It's one of the brightest stars that we see from Earth," explained Ami. "But I didn't know there were planets around it."

"They are seven of them, but I was sure Galaxia had destroyed them and their senshi," said Hotaru. "But they might have been reborn…"

That night, Mariona had another dream…

_The landscape was the same as in her first dream, but this time, where the seven towers had been, stood now seven roses, each of them a different color. She noticed that someone picked one: a blue rose. She ran to that person, a young man with short, navy blue hair and eyes. He was dressed like he was some sort of prince from somewhere mystical, with a velvet cape the same dark color of his eyes._

_He was smelling the rose the moment that she came close to him. He looked at her. She was dressed in a blue silk Grecian toga, and her hair was dressed in a way that made her look like a sculpted goddess, but she noticed that it had changed its color from her dark brown to dodge blue._

_The boy offered her the rose. She doubted first, because she didn't know him, but in the end she moved her arm to pick the flower. All of a sudden, the boy destroyed the rose and his body grew dark up to the sky, covering it all in darkness, and fire destroyed the other six roses and trapped her…_

_**Author's comments:**_

_Well, first of all, thanks to all of those who have read the first two chapters of my fanfic. I guess I owe you a couple of cultural references from the first one, it's the traditional celebration in Spain of Saint John's Eve, in which we celebrate the summer equinox, the beginning of summer. It is typical in Catalonia (North-East of Spain) to celebrate it with bonfires and fireworks. In cities that are next to the sea, those parties are celebrated on the beach, but the elements are the same everywhere. There is a traditional cake, the "coca de sant Joan", which is like a long, plain brioche with fruits on top of it. Mariona and the rest of the gang go together to that traditional party and after they go to a disco on the beach, a "carpa" (an open-air disco), but that's not part of the tradition blushes slightly_

_In this chapter, the only reference is the one from the Metro, which is Barcelona's Underground/Subway, and the neighborhood of Gràcia. It's one of the traditionally "rich" or uptown neighborhoods, and nowadays it's full of cool/chic restaurants and pubs and young people like to go out there. _

_I think that's all for this chapter! You can see that the canon Sol senshi have grown up, they are between 22 and 25 years old (except Hotaru, who is the same age as Mariona) and Chibiusa has been born as a normal, human kid (well, in theory that's what really happens in the manga...). _

_What will happen next? We'll see in Chapter 3! __Cheers _


	3. Chapter 3

_Barcelona. July 2nd_

Mariona heard her flight to Dublin was being called as she walked the B-Terminal's long corridor, which seemed even longer with her heavy bag. As she approached the gate, she hoped that they wouldn't need to take one of those shuttle buses to enter the airplane.

While she waited for her seat row to be called, she read text messages from her friends. Her best friend Anna wished her a good flight and reminded her of what sort of souvenir she wanted. Mariona smiled as she read, and went on to with the next one. It was from Pau:

"Don't boss the Irish around too much, or William Wallace will punish you! Wait, he was Scottish… Never mind, have a nice stay!"

Mariona made a mental note to herself: "Strangle Pau when I come back." She read the last one with a slight blush on her cheeks. It was from Razek.

"No matter how far you are, you'll be in my heart. You're my shining star. Come back soon to my arms, my princess. I love you. (Miss you already)"

_Dublin. Some hours later._

About two hours later, the plane landed at Dublin's airport. After picking her bags up, she headed outside. She looked among the people who were waiting for travelers to come out and searched for somebody with some sort of sign with her name on it. She saw a beautiful, tall, red-haired girl holding a green piece of paper. Beside her was an older woman and man with similar features, but both had blond hair instead of red.

They were the O'Brien family. Mariona was going to stay at their home for the next two weeks, as had been arranged by Mariona's language school.

"Mariona, is it? Welcome to Dublin!" said the woman. "I'm Karen. This is my husband Bernard…"

"Call me Berni, please," he interrupted, shaking the Catalan girl's hand. Karen went on.

"And this is our daughter, Shannon."

Shannon, the red-haired girl, just said "hi" with a hint of a smile. For a moment, Mariona worried that Shannon would give her a hard time, but she decided not to worry yet. Berni took Mariona's suitcase and the four of them left the airport to drive to Mariona's temporary home.

The O'Briens lived on the suburbs of Dublin, in a residential area with identical houses, each of them with a garden full of flowers. Their home was no exception, and Mariona wished she could have such a house back in Barcelona instead of her rather small flat.

She and Shannon would be sleeping in the same room, which was big enough for the two of them. Karen told Mariona to unpack while she prepared lunch and afterwards, they would do some sightseeing.

During her stay in Dublin, Mariona would be going to English lessons in the morning and in the afternoons Shannon would be in charge of her.

Mariona learned that Shannon was 19, just a year older than her, instead of twenty-something, as she had thought at the airport. She was studying to become a nurse and during the summer months she was working at a residential home for the elderly in the mornings.

Mariona had gone to the residential care home to help Shannon on a couple of afternoons. The head nurse had been happy for the help, and Mariona had served the elderly their food and kept them company, despite her linguistic problems.

Everything was going fine until Mariona had a strange conversation with an older lady when she was serving her dinner. The head nurse had already warned her not to take the lady's stories seriously, nor to try to have a normal conversation with her, as she was a little mad and always explained strange tales.

However, Mariona didn't find her strange at all when she came into her room and found her reading a novel. The old woman greeted her in Irish, but realizing that Mariona was neither Irish nor a nurse, she translated her own words into English.

"Are you a new nurse?" the woman asked.

"No ma'am," said Mariona with her best English, even though she couldn't hide her accent. "I'm just here to help today."

"Where are you from… Mariona?"

The Catalan girl was shocked that the unknown lady knew her name, and wondered if she had said it already.

"I'm not a witch, if that's what you're thinking," said the old woman, as if reading Mariona's mind. "That's what says on your necklace. Unless you have a girlfriend called like that, of course."

Mariona instinctively touched her necklace, a golden shell with her name engraved on it.

"It's a present from my grandmother. She gave it to me before she died," she explained.

"I don't think I can do the same for my grand-daughter, unless her mother allows me to," replied the old lady with some melancholy in her voice. "I guess they've already told you that I'm mad because I explain strange stories, haven't they?"

"What… sort of stories?" Mariona asked, full of curiosity. The old lady smiled.

"Tell me, Mariona: do you think there's life outside Earth?" By the girl's stare, she knew she didn't. "You won't believe me, but there is. Our solar system is not the only place in the universe where we can find life. Many stars have planets orbiting around them. There was a time when the glorious Moon Kingdom rose and ruled in peace for a long period of time. But darkness is always attracted by light and it tried to take control of the entire universe with the power of the Silver Crystal, the source of power of the Queen of the Moon. The fight between light and darkness is eternal and no-one is bound to win it."

Mariona, mouth-opened, doubted whether she should believe the story or not, because the old lady seemed to be remembering her own life or maybe the plot of an old science-fiction film. She was about to ask her to continue her story when the room's door burst open.

"Mariona, what on Earth are you doing? We have a lot of work to do!"

It was Shannon. She pulled the Catalan girl out of the room and slammed the door behind them. Mariona noticed how she looked at the old lady with something close to hate.

"I'm sorry if Marian has said anything strange to you," apologized the red-haired girl, still looking angry.

"Oh, never mind, she was telling me a wonderful science-fiction story, something about the Moon Kingdom. If she wrote it, she might make a best-seller," tried to joke Mariona, but Shannon seemed not to find it funny at all. Instead, she just said, dryly:

"Come on, we have lots of work to do."

Shannon had almost not spoken after what had happened at the centre. Mariona was dying to ask her why she had been so nervous back then, but she didn't dare -after all, she only knew Shannon after two weeks.

But Shannon herself explained everything that Mariona needed to know.

"Marian is my grandmother. Mom blames her for shaming the family with fairy tales about aliens and life in outer space. During her teen years, Mom's classmates made fun of her because of Marian's stories and reputation, and she came to hate her. Then, in college, she met Dad and they got married, but she tried to keep him from learning about her mother. She did the same with me as well. After my grandfather died, Mom convinced her brothers to send Marian to this centre, and that's the last time I saw her. I was about five or six. Then I started working here, and Mom allows it because she talked to the head nurse and told her explicitly that I shouldn't have any sort of contact with Marian. Of course, I'm not supposed to know this. I overheard a couple of older nurses talking about this in the storage room. You see, Mom doesn't even let me call her 'Grandma'. It was always 'Marian'."

There was a long silence. Mariona didn't know what to say or do, and Shannon was fighting to hold her tears.

**Author's comments:** Not much to say this time, I hope you are liking this story I've corrected the spelling and punctuation mistakes on chapters 1 to 3, and I'm about to finish chapter 4 (after almost a whole year trying to write it... it's unforgivable of me...).


	4. Chapter 4

Somewhere dark, away from any source of life, a woman dressed in a white dress sat in front of a floating table. On it stood five woman-shaped chess pieces, even though there wasn't a chess table, but a hologram of some planetary system right over the pieces and the woman's head. She grinned evilly as she analysed the sixth piece, which was on her hand.

Someone knocked at her dormitory's door. She allowed the blue haired man inside. He kneeled before her and spoke from the shadows.

"Great Kolton, the first part of my mission has already been completed. I proceed to the destruction of the reincarnation of Sailor Sirius before her awakening," he said.

The woman stood up from her armchair and walked to her balcony. She moved the silk curtain that covered the balcony's doors and the impressive views she had from her room were revealed. Her palace stood on top of a rocky hill and from there she could control the great plain that separated her hill from the one right opposite, and the sea, which extended its waters to the horizon.

She noticed that two of the three moons of her harmonious planet were starting to shine in the evening sky at the same time that the sun, the star Sirius, was setting behind the mountain opposite to her palace.

"Perfect," she said, breaking with the long silence. "Send one of your beasts to get rid of her. You won't need your full powers to kill a common human girl."

She hadn't let go of the woman-shaped piece. It represented a Grecian princess and was sculpted in some sort of blue stony material. The woman pressed the piece stronger and, without taking her eyes off the setting sun, she grinned.

Dublin. July 12th

Mariona hadn't talked to Shannon about Marian since the incident at the centre, but she knew that her new friend was worried about it. She had thought of getting Shannon to talk to her grandmother. However, she dismissed the idea because she simply couldn't find the way to do it. Moreover, the red-haired hadn't taken her to the centre since that day, and she knew that she didn't have much time: in three days she had to fly back to Barcelona.

Luck seemed to be on her side, though. That afternoon, Shannon had to go to work and Karen and Berni were busy, so Mariona went with Shannon to the centre.

"You know, I'd like to say goodbye to Marian, because I'm leaving on Monday evening," Mariona told her friend, who smiled sadly.

The Catalan girl thought it was the best Mument to talk about Marian.

"Why don't you come with me and talk to her a little bit?"

Shannon stopped doing the dishes, as if Mariona had named the devil himself, and stared at her with a strange mixture of anger and fear. There was a tense silence, which was finally broken by the ringing of the telephone. Shannon went to answer the call, and Mariona felt kind of embarrassed and thought that she had had a bad idea.

Shannon came back but Mariona didn't dare to talk about the topic again. The two girls barely spoke during their way to the centre, and Shannon left Mariona with the receptionist. They almost didn't meet during the whole afternoon, and finally, feeling defeated, the wavy-haired girl decided to go alone to see Marian.

She knocked the door but didn't wait for a reply to enter the room. Marian looked pleased to see her, and they started to chat about non-important topics, so that Mariona could understand everything without many problems. But the Catalan girl was full of curiosity for Marian's story about life outside Earth.

"Oh, yes, there was a very powerful kingdom, many centuries ago, a kingdom that ruled the whole of the Solar System from the Moon. Their reign was called the Silver Millennium. Those were prosperous days and peace ruled all over the Galaxy. But there were more planets, planets that were not under the Silver Millennium's influence… The Sirius Kingdom, for example. Around the star Sirius orbit seven planets: Rhiannon, Dragon, Vasha, Ziya, Connary, Stimme and Kolton. You should know, my dear, that all these planets… every planet, every moon, every asteroid, even stars themselves, have a source of power, which materialises in the form of a crystal called a starseed. And there is one person in each of these celestial bodies whose pure heart carries the starseed."

"A starseed?" asked Mariona, but her voice was echoed by somebody else's. The old woman and the Catalan girl turned their heads around to meet Shannon's incredulous look.

"Yes, that's what we call them," said Marian, and continued explaining her story, ignoring the fact that Shannon was there listening. "Only a pure heart can carry a starseed, and people who carry starseeds have the power to become the protective fighters of their planets. But they can also be corrupted by the power of Chaos."

"Chaos?"

"He is the source of darkness and evil. He wants more and more power, but he can only fight through somebody else's body. That's why he corrupts pure hearts and takes their bright light away and he begins horrible wars and endless fights all across the Galaxy. He still does. He might be trying to destroy or take a planet over right now."

"I can't believe a single word of what you've just said," interrupted Shannon. "This Chaos you're talking about doesn't exist, and he's not trying to destroy anything, because he's product of your imagination."

"Still, you wear the green gem necklace, don't you, Shannon?" replied Marian, to Mariona's confusion.

Shannon unconsciously moved her right hand over her neck. Mariona could see that she was wearing a black-stringed necklace from which hung a green gem, maybe an emerald, she thought.

"What do you mean by that? What relationship does my necklace have with your science-fiction tale?" Shannon nearly shouted.

"Mariona," Marian seemed to have ignored her granddaughter's questions. "You also wear a necklace. A blue, shell-shaped shell, isn't it?"

Mariona nodded, but was still confused. Why was Marian asking her that?

"Why do you wear it, Mariona?"

"My grandmother gave it to me when… some months before she died," replied the wavy-haired girl. "And I really like it, it's my favourite. I've always worn it."

"What about you, Shannon?"

The red-haired girl doubted whether she had to reply or leave the room. She finally said:

"I took it from the box Mum keeps her jewels in when I was a kid. I know she didn't want me to have it, because it belonged to you, but when she saw me wearing it for the first time, some months ago, she didn't seem to recognise it. Otherwise, I know she would have taken it away from me."

"These necklaces are the source of your powers. You must never get away from them, because I sense that danger is coming closer and closer, and you will have to awake your powers soon," said Marian, after a short silence.

"That makes no sense," said Shannon with sarcasm in her voice.

"I know it's hard to believe, but Shannon, believe it or not, you are the reincarnation of a warrior princess from another planet and your aura is very strong. This means that a planet protects you and your starseed."

"That's just a load of bullshit," Shannon said. "Mum was right about you, you're just a crazy old woman. I feel ashamed of having wanted to talk to you, regardless of what people say about you."

With those words, Shannon left the room and shut the door behind her. Mariona couldn't move. Her heart was racing and she didn't know what to do. She wanted to go after her friend, but she had been captivated by Marian's story and wanted to know more.

Just as if she could read her thoughts, Marian said:

"Your aura is very special, too, Mariona. You are protected by a much stronger power. I sense that the time is coming closer than we expected. But now go, my dear. I think my granddaughter needs someone to talk to."

Mariona was about to leave the room, but closed the door and said to Marian:

"I don't think you're a crazy old woman. I don't know why, but I believe your story."

Marian simply smiled with gratitude and Mariona went to look for Shannon.

She found her in the storage room, sitting on a small pile of boxes and crying. The light was off, but Mariona thought it was better to leave it that way. She kneeled next to the Irish girl and took her hand.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't a good idea to tell you to talk to her."

"I'm the one who should apologise, Mariona. I didn't expect her to… Planets outside the Solar system, warrior princesses… I mean, who'd believe that?" she said as she dried her tears with the back of her sleeve. She stood up to leave the room, looking as if nothing had happened. "Come on, let's get out of here. We have work to do."

These words were followed by an explosion. The two girls, scared, opened the door slowly. Light didn't work in the whole building because the corridors were in complete darkness except for the small emergency lights. They also expected to hear people shouting and crying, but people seemed to have disappeared, for rooms were empty.

Shannon found a torch in the storage room and she and Mariona walked through the corridor, opening the doors of the empty dormitories.

"This is very strange," said Shannon. "Where is everybody?"

"Hide!" said Mariona, trying not to shout too loud. She had seen somebody coming their way, but she couldn't tell who it was.

Hidden under the nurses' desk, they heard how the dormitory doors were opened violently, sometimes with smaller explosions, which were followed by a high-pitched female voice.

"Where are you, you little, disgusting rats? I know you are still alive, I can sense your auras."

Mariona tried to look from their position and saw a woman-shaped silhouette entering a dormitory. She looked human, but there was something about her that gave Mariona a bad feeling.

When the strange woman got out of the room, both Mariona and Shannon could see that her skin was a dark blue tone, her ears were long and pointed and she had a blue, dragon-like tail.

Shannon gasped almost imperceptibly and Mariona put a finger on her lips to warn her friend to be careful: they couldn't be heard. But the monster seemed to have a very good ear, because its high-pitched voice shouted:

"Ah, there you are!" The girls could hear her steps coming close to where they were hidden. "You can get out of there; I'm going to kill you anyway. But don't worry, it won't hurt much."

As the monster said that, it raised its hand to summon a red power ball. She was about to throw it to the nurses' desk when a green light hit it. Shannon and Mariona got out of their hiding place and saw the monster lying on the floor.

"Who are you?" it shouted.

Marian stood opposite to the monster, with a hand lifted as if she was ready to attack it again.

"Shannon, Mariona, the time has come. You have to awaken your powers now!" said Marian. "Follow your hearts."

Mariona noticed Shannon's necklace was shining with green light, and saw that hers was glowing too, but with blue light. She felt warmth around the blue shell that hung from her necklace, and her lips moved automatically, as if it wasn't her who ordered them to move.

"Sirius Crystal Power, Make up!" she shouted. The blue light from her necklace filled the room, and when everybody could see again, Mariona was dressed in a sailor fuku in different shades of blue: the collar was dodger blue, as well as her skirt, even though the skirt was the same shade of pale blue as her bodice. Her wavy hair had changed from dark brown to the same dodger blue of her fuku skirt, and she wore sandals in the same colour.

"Who are you?" shouted the evil monster.

"I am the soldier from the brightest star, a warrior of peace and justice, to defend the innocent from evil. My name is Sailor Sirius! Prepare to fight!"

The evil woman just laughed at the speech. "We finally meet, Sailor Sirius. I am Malvada, and my mission is to destroy you!"

Malvada created another ball of energy on her hand, and shot it to Sailor Sirius, even though she could avoid it, because she found it easier to move now thanks to some sort of power she didn't understand.

Shannon, however, felt unable to move. She was terrified, but Marian, wounded and bleeding, said to her: "Raise your hand up to the air and shout the words your heart whispers. You must do it now, my child!"

Shannon doubted, but finally her lips moved almost automatically. "Rhiannon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Her body was now surrounded by green light and leaves that flew around her. She had transformed into Sailor Rhiannon, and her fuku was very similar to the one Mariona wore, only that Shannon's was in shades of green and wore brown leather boots. Her hair had become slightly darker, and it was now combed in two short braids, one at each side of her face.

Meanwhile, Malvada hadn't stopped attacking Sailor Sirius, even though she had learned to do the Sirius Bright Wave attack, which consisted of attacking her opponent with a flash of light, which blinded her foes, followed by a strong wave of water that left them completely soaked, because they couldn't prevent it or escape from it because of the blinding.

Sirius had been wounded, because Malvada was also powerful and Sirius's attack hadn't been enough to stop her. And now the evil monster decided that she had had enough of the girl in the blue uniform, and went after Marian, who was an easier aim.

"Don't you dare touch her!" yelled Shannon, and moved her arm to use her Rhiannon Whip. Malvada was hit and she got some deep cuts on her skin.

"You..." cried Malvada. Her cuts hurt her when she moved, but that that didn't seem enough to stop her.

"I won't allow you to continue hurting innocent people. I am Sailor Rhiannon, the soldier of nature! En garde!"

"I don't care who you are! I'm going to kill you as well," growled Malvada, ready to attack again. But now there were two Sailor Senshi, and the combination of their attacks made the monster disappear.

The girls were happy because they had defeated her, but they didn't forget about Marian. The woman lay against a pile of empty cardboard boxes, but she hadn't stopped bleeding. Mariona entered the storage room and found some bandages for Marian.

"Don't bother, girls. It's no use," she said, even though Marion and Shannon still tried to stop her bleeding. "I'm about to die."

"No, you won't die!" Shannon had accidentally raised her voice too much, which shocked Mariona. She didn't expect her friend to react like that, but she was glad that Shannon finally showed her real feelings towards her grandmother.

"But that's life, Shannon," Marian said. "You two are the ones who have to be careful from now on. The fight that you've just fought has nothing to do with what will come, and sooner than any of us expected."

"Any of us? What do you mean?" asked Shannon.

"The other guardians of the Sirius planets. There are six of us. Well… there were six of us. I'm afraid I'm the only one left. And not for long," she smiled sadly. "Shannon, Mariona: you have to find the other Sirius Senshi before it's too late. Don't let her do it again."

"Do what?" asked Mariona. But Marian didn't answer.

"M-Marian…?" Shannon shook her arm gently, but it was useless. Marian was dead. "No… No! Grandmother! Don't die!" Tears fell down her cheeks as she took Marian's cold hand.

_That night, Mariona had another dream. In the same field where she had seen a blue-haired boy give her a blue rose were now seven roses. A blue rose was standing in the middle, __and next to it was a green rose. But the green rose was divided in two: a new flower was blooming on top of the older rose._

_The other roses seemed to be blooming as well, but Mariona couldn't see them clearly. One of the moons of that place was in its full phase, while the other two started to shine very slightly._


End file.
